Today, most data in field force industries (e.g., field sales, field services, inspection and reporting, etc.) is distributed and captured on paper-based forms. The data entered on paper-based forms are typically returned to the business office to be manually entered electronically and integrated with a back office system. Furthermore, an enterprise business process might require the captured data to be reviewed by other members of the organization (e.g., authorization, up sell opportunity, billing, etc.) before, during, or after the field has interacted with the data. The process of distributing, updating, capturing, and returning form data and adapting it to a unique business process applies to a large number of mobile workers performing a variety of tasks such as, but not limited to, inspections (e.g., property, health, etc.), sales force reporting, and work order dispatches (e.g., HVAC, insurance claims, etc.).
Typically, in more complex forms-based business processes, work requests and form data are initially dispatched to field force workers using a voice channel (e.g., cell phone) or pre-printed paper forms (e.g., clipboard) that is then manually filled out or updated by the mobile worker (e.g., technician). A completed work request might also require one or many subsequent requests (e.g., required parts, required authorization, up-sell opportunities, etc.) that are typically done through a call over a cellular phone, or return trip to the office, or may cause the displacement of the mobile worker. Today, field inspectors may also capture data in the field using a series of paper forms and binders to complete their inspection tasks, resulting in a slow and inefficient process.
Businesses incur high wireless voice and vehicle fleet costs due to the above-described processes used in dispatching field workers, capturing or updating form data, and completing work orders or inspection forms in the field. Additionally, there are significant cost and inefficiencies with slow, manual processes for the exchange of data using paper-based forms, from the cost of the paper based forms, to duplicate data entry, to errors made in data capture on paper, to waiting for the person with the data to update another person or system, etc.
Electronic forms and XForms (XML Forms) solutions (such as, Adobe LiveCycle, Microsoft Infopath, FormDocs, Altova, Advantys, MDSI, X-Smiles, formsPlayer, and Novell XForms) are generally PC-centric and Local Area Network (LAN) oriented as opposed to being optimized for mobile devices and wireless use. Additionally, these solutions are on-line and browser-centric, as opposed to being optimized for on- and off-line use over intermittently connected wireless networks with varying degrees of cost and quality of service. These solutions typically do not provide mechanisms for hosting multi-tenants (multi-domain) forms applications using a common IT infrastructure (e.g., Managed Service Provider hosted environment), nor do they have support for sophisticated routing and tracking of forms and policies that define a mobile forms application.
Therefore, it would be desirable to have a system and method for defining, deploying, displaying, modifying, capturing, validating, and submitting/returning form data on mobile device using an intermittent network connection that addresses one or more of these issues.